BOGOTA, June 10 (Reuters) - Construction firm Odebrecht
has not yet found a company to take over a large
portion of its $849.7 million majority stake in a project to
make Colombia's Magdalena River more navigable and will now
begin paying fines for failing to start construction, the
government said on Friday.

Odebrecht, Latin America's largest engineering conglomerate,
said in May it would relinquish 50 to 75 percent of its
participation in the Navelena consortium, tasked with deepening
the river to allow the passage of large shipping barges.

The project contract allows Brazil-based Odebrecht to pass
the majority of its 87 percent stake in Navelena to another firm
in extraordinary circumstances. Odebrecht had until Saturday,
when construction was set to begin, to find a substitute.

Without an alternative company in place, Odebrecht will be
required to pay fines of 20.86 million pesos per day, the
equivalent of 30 minimum monthly salaries, Cormagdalena, the
government agency overseeing the project said in a statement.

Odebrecht told Reuters it had no immediate comment on the
matter.

Twelve multinational firms, their names kept confidential,
had expressed interested in the stake, Cormagdalena said in a
statement.

Should a substitute not be found within 30 days,
Cormagdalena could begin the process of terminating the
contract, the agency said.

The Navelena consortium, which also includes Colombian firm
Valorcon, is set to fund most of the project and profit from
toll charges for seven years after its upgrade of the waterway.
Continuación...